ceebeegee | Entries tagged with nyc

So I had kind of a difficult train ride home from my classes in Lower Manhattan this morning. I boarded the 2 train on Chambers Street and immediately noticed a dude hanging out between the cars, which is obviously very dangerous and not allowed. Once the train started moving he opened the doors and came into the cars, and he was HUGE. A very, very big guy, and he sat down on my side, just a few seats away from me. And dude was weird--he kept shifting around and moving around and turning and staring at me. I got a weird vibe from the whole thing, and I believe in listening to my instincts, so at the next stop I moved to the next train down.

This train was also relatively empty but I noticed a bag lady sitting at the far corner so I sat down in the middle and pulled out my book. I read and noticed a family came on at the next stop--a mom and 3 young kids (a girl around age 6, two boys around age 4-5). And I also noticed the bag lady was quite vocal, screaming--literally screaming--about how YOU FUCKED XYZ PERSON and that sort of thing. As I was noticing this, I saw the mom noticing it. The kids, especially the two young boys, looked freaked out. The mom leaned forward and was telling the kids "the lady is mentally ill--that means she is sick in the brain. We're going to switch cars at the next stop." She was handling it very well, very casual, but the kids were still unnerved by the whole thing so I leaned over and started conversing with them. They had on Irish rugby tee-shirts so I asked them about that. "I really like your shirts. I have visited Ireland and I just love that country. Have you ever been there?" As it turned out, they had--all 3 kids are half-Irish and visit the country twice a year. We entered into a grand conversation about Ireland and Mom gave me a grateful look. When we pulled into the next station Mom and the kids and I exited the car--they went in one direction, I went in the other (toward the last car, the one in which I typically want to be when the train pulls into 110th Street).

This turned out to be THE WORST car of all three. JFC this was seriously the Freak Train. Cat Stevens had the Peace Train, I had the Freak Train. There was a guy in the corner, young guy, couldn't have been older than very early 20s if that, with a bike. Eventually he picked up his bike and started walking to the other end of the car, and didn't give a shit about the other passengers. Like, he was actively trying to brush up against us with his bike. I pulled up as he passed, and then he approached an older dude--maybe late 50s--and just started swinging at him, screaming at him, slamming the glass of the windows next to the guy's face. EVERYONE flipped out and I remember yelling "Jesus fucking Christ!" and grabbing the pepper spray I always carry. The guy was screaming at the older dud, and screaming at us. He still had the bike. He was kind of menacing the car with the bike but also kind of looking around for validation. The older guy was terrified--we all were--but would not move and GOOD FOR HIM. Because fuck anti-social shits like this dude. Fuck them hard. Anti-Social Shit came toward me, looking as though he was going to throw the bike at me or something, and I said "If you come near me, I will spray you."* What I really wanted to do was call him on his shit, push his buttons, but I figured it was better not to engage. He did recognize the spray and kept his distance.

He and I had a three-or-so minute staredown as we approached 110th Street. At one point he started to lurch toward me and I thought he was going to throw the bike at me. He was also babbling about how the older dude "was lucky" and "I can't even walk down the STREET!!!" I just made sure he saw that pepper spray. Dude, I don't GAF about your problems. The moment you start threatening some older dude with violence, you lose my sympathy. When we pulled in of course he ran across the platform like the coward he is to catch the downtown train. Another dude and I found a transit officer and reported the whole thing. (I doubt anything will happen.) The other dude and I were bonding about this sort of thing--it was actually rather sweet, there was a sort of world-weary "New York transit, ain't this some shit?" And he pointed out that my backpack was unzipped and did I want him to zip it up?

Honestly, the most remarkable thing about it was that ten minutes later, I'd completely put it out of my mind instead of worrying endlessly over it.

*And part of me later realized--you should've said "if you go near anyone, I will spray you." I had a weapon, I should've used it to protect the rest of the car. At least I was able to protect my half of the car.

Crossposts: https://ceebeegee.livejournal.com/733786.html

Have had an utterly shit weekend, all things considered—and the gift just keeps on giving today.

It started with my corporate game Friday night. None of the guys on the team responded or came so I had to dig up a bunch of subs just so we could have a game. One of my friends, who monitors a soccer email group, sent out an email for me saying I needed subs and a goalie. Several guys responded, including one guy who was the first to get to the field house. He was an older player and I could tell right off the bat he wasn’t very good (just generally not very coordinated, kind of awkward and flail-y). Angela (my friend) was also asking guys at the field house if they wanted to play and quite a few said yes. So we had a team and lots of subs, which was obviously good. Older Guy asks me “do you actually need subs?” I thought he was asking if I needed HIM, like if we didn’t really need him, he could leave or do something else or whatever. I shrugged and said “well, we did—we are pretty full right now though” and he starts yelling at me, saying “why did you send out that email then? I thought you needed players, I came a long way for this!” Like, back the fuck UP. I don’t care how far away you came, that’s on you. I said “Angela sent out the email and a lot of people responded but they didn’t show up until just before the game and she knew I was still worried, so she recruited even more players.” He’s like “well, do you need me or not?” I said “what do YOU want to do? Do you want to play? THEN PLAY. No one’s kicking you out! And get off my case!” I really wanted to say “you are not good enough to cop this kind of attitude and the pickup community is small—you will be remembered if you act obnoxiously.” It really upset me at the beginning of the game—dude, I don’t even know you, calm down. I absolutely detest it when older men act like that. After the game (he wasn’t terrible but he was far and away the weakest and slowest player out there) he tried to make nice with me but man, never again. If he responds to another mass email seeking subs, I’m ignoring it.

So then Saturday after my classes, I was walking through Harlem on my way back to my apartment, and going up Frederick Douglass Boulevard. FDB was really blossomed in the past 5 years or so—tons of great new restaurants and lounges, all different types. I text Ryan “hey, it’s a gorgeous day—wanna meet for lunch?” So we decide to meet at 116 and FDB. I get there and Ryan comes up to me—he says he was waiting for me and a guy came up to him, coming on to him, and was asking him to get a drink. Ryan said he was waiting for a friend and the guy said bring your friend, I’ll buy them a drink as well. Said he was in town for a wedding and he hated to drink alone. Ryan said to me we don’t have to if you’d rather not but I thought, why not? We all sit down together and the guy was staring at me, absolutely hung on my every word. But he said he was gay and I thought he was trying to impress Ryan and pick him up. The guy orders another round of drinks and then Ryan and I decide why not, we’ll eat here. It seemed like a good conversation. Then the guy goes over to the waitress and when he comes back, he’s slipping a receipt into his pocket—trying to look like he was being discreet but I sensed he wanted me to notice. Then the food arrives and a few minutes later he wants to go out front for a cigarette and asks Ryan to join him.

I wait FOREVER for them to come back—at least 15-20 minutes. Finally Ryan comes back—alone. He says the guy told him he had paid for the bill with his “corporate card” but he had to meet his “weed dealer” and asked Ryan to pay for our portions, in cash. He asked for $70 and Ryan immediately balked. Ryan said oh no, you ordered those rounds of drinks, not us. We’ll pay for our food and that’s it. Ryan said he would give him $40 but he didn’t have cash—the guy said there’s an ATM machine a few blocks away. (This, I think, is when I might have figured it out [I say might because someone tried to scam me like this once and as soon as they mentioned the phrase ”ATM machine” something clicked and it felt wrong somehow. Like, you should not be directing me to an ATM]. But Ryan had a lot of information to process, I don’t blame him for not picking up on this.) The guy was talkingtalkingtalking the entire way, Ryan gets him $40 and the guy says he’ll be right back.

I sat there, processing this, and said “What do we do now?” Ryan said he’ll be back and I thought about it. I said “Ryan, I don’t think he’s going to come back—that’s a pretty egregious etiquette breach, asking for cash like that, even if he did foot the bill. I think he might be embarrassed.” Then it occurred to me if he doesn’t come back, he might’ve stiffed the waitress so I call her over and ask if he tipped her. She looks startled and says: he didn’t pay the bill at all.

Ryan and I sit there, stunned. The waitress is very concerned and asks us what’s the deal, and we explain to her what happened. She goes to get the manager and I tell Ryan the fairest thing would be for them to take off his portion and we just pay for our meals, but we shouldn’t count on that. Manager comes, we tell her everything and she decides to take off one round of drinks and his meal. The bill comes to $70-something and I put on a whopping tip (on the original amount, not the adjusted total) which the waitress had to clarify “are you sure?” I said you’ve been so helpful and I’m not going to stiff you on the service you provided to him, even if he is a thief, that’s not your fault. We went to police to file a report but the guy to whom we spoke was utterly unhelpful (if polite) and was very discouraging, saying the guy hadn’t used force, it wasn’t a crime, a judge wouldn’t do anything. I said who cares about a judge? We know we’re not going to see Ryan’s money again—but what about informing the community that a scammer is running around? The cop was saying to Ryan, well you gave him that money, he didn’t actually rob you. I said--then why did you go after the squeegee guys in the '90s? Why do you go after the costumed people in Times Square? It’s not a crime to ask for a tip—why would you come down hard on them but you don’t care about scammers who actually lie? It's a quality of life issue, which is exactly what the broken windows theory is designed to address--that little crimes turn into bigger ones. In the end the cop refused to do anything so as we walked out I loudly remarked about how he didn’t want to do his job, even though crime is so low they have nothing else to do except escort 12 year old boys in handcuffs (which we saw when we first entered). Hey, I might as well use white privilege (I knew the cop wouldn’t come down on me for that remark) for good.

Then yesterday. Here’s the context: I went away for Thanksgiving and as usual, Michael fed the babies. When I came back I noticed Tatia was hardly moving—for two days (Monday and Tuesday) she literally barely stirred from my pillow. I had to shove food under her nose to get her to eat anything. Very concerned, I made an appointment at the vet for her. My current vet is on Lex and 94th—they’re great but they’re expensive, $97 per visit. I first took the babies there in fall of ’13 and it was obviously a bit of a hit, especially because they were recommending blood tests for Tatia ($200+) and tooth extraction (much more $$$). At that time I flat-out could not afford that, whatsoever. (I'm doing better now but this is still ending up to be quite a lot for me.)

So since then I haven’t taken them back for a checkup, thinking hey, they’re indoor cats, it’s not like they’ll get hit by a car. So anyway, as this past week progressed, Tatia was doing better—moving around, climbing into my lap. But I kept the appointment, which was yesterday. They did a regular checkup and then recommended blood work and a fluid injection (she was dehydrated). I nixed the fluid injection (the least important thing—she wasn't terribly dehydrated) but okayed the blood work, so the bill was $327 (checkup, bloodwork, plus 2 cans of AD, a special super-fattening and irresistible wet food for cats who have gone off their food).

The vet called today. Lambkin has kidney disease and a bladder infection, so I have to bring her in tomorrow for an antibiotic. Plus they wanted to “do a culture” on her to make sure they were getting her the right antibiotic (the one tomorrow is a general one—she needs one pretty badly). The culture is $160, plus $50 for the first antibiotic. I thought about it and decided to go ahead and get the culture (that was optional--the doctor was very respectful of my financial concerns--but recommended). In for a penny, in for a metric fuckton, right?

The kicker is—I have insurance for them. But it’s contingent upon their receiving a yearly checkup, so they have a baseline of health for the animal. Which I skipped last year, because I couldn’t afford it. (And I’d forgotten about that insurance requirement.) My options are not good—I can either ask the vet to back me up if I say I took Tatia for her annual exam which they might refuse (and which they would be entirely in the right to do so. That’s a lot to ask). Or I throw myself on the mercy of my insurance company, and I don’t expect them to give in. (Although if they do I’ll just go ahead and cancel her policy—not out of spite but I might as well save myself that monthly expense.) $500+ in one week for Tatia. Plus the restaurant thing. Jesus.

WHAT YE FUCK, UNIVERSE?!

But at least Lambkin is doing better. She's eating, she's moving around, she's cuddling, and she's doing one of my favorite stunts--when I'm in bed but awake (like when I first wake up, or first lie down), she loves to walk over to the pillow and stand with front and back paws on opposite sides of my face, essentially straddling my face. What kills me is how she pulls this off--she kind of looks around, like she's considering something, like hmm, what to do, what to do, decisions, decisions. Meanwhile her BELLY FULL OF FUR is hanging right in my face, smothering me. And Tatia just pretends she doesn't even notice. This sadistic game of hers is how I know she's doing a little better. When your elderly cat stops trying to kill you, that's when you know they're in trouble.

Crossposts: https://ceebeegee.livejournal.com/730469.html

So I had an interesting afternoon.

I had a two-hour window between classes so I got lunch and went to hang out in Washington Square Park, which was packed with people and lovely. I'm sitting on the grass there in my stocking feet (shoe issues, podiatrist visit tomorrow) and noticed a couple of possibly-homeless guys maybe 50 feet away, talking loudly, swaying back and forth, the usual. I'm working on a couple of classes and look up to see one of the PHG getting in the face (literally) of an older guy (60s?), who had a dog on a leash nearby by. This was right near me, maybe 10 feet. PHG is yelling at Older Guy, "your DOG bit me in the FACE, what the fuck are you gonna do about it?" I see he does indeed have a small wound on his nose that's bleeding. OG is backing away, not saying much and PHG hauls off and SOCKS OG in the face, knocking him to the ground. OG is trying to stand back up and stumbles back down again. PHG is still yelling at him, "WHAT are you gonna DO about it?" I jump up, pepper spray in hand, and jump between them, asking OG "are you okay? Should I call 911?" PHG is lunging forward and I stuck out a hand, saying "leave him alone!" (Like--CRINGE, Clara. "Leave him alone"? Couldn't I have said something more authoritative like keep your distance? Oy.) OG said to me "no, I'm not okay..." and I whipped out my phone. The best part was when PHG moved backwards at one point and came within range of the doggie who was still on the leash attached to a fence post. Dog went to TOWN on PHG's ankle. Doggie saw PHG attacking his human and he was having none of it. (I was very proud of him--good doggie! Don't come near me but good doggie!)

OG take doggie and stumbles out of the park. PHG is lurching after him, and now he's really bellowing. He's screaming at people on the bench in front of me and I'm on the phone with 911, giving a description of PHG (I'm sure they could hear him on the phone), telling them exactly where in the park we were. The dispatcher asked me "what does he look like--is he black or Hispanic?" "Uh, actually he's white!" She said they'd send out a call (or whatever they said) but as it turned out there were already cops in the park, pretty close by, who kind of strolled over. Good timing, guys! Would've been nice if you'd stepped in earlier. A few other spectators and I spoke to the cops and eventually PHG showed up, cops in tow, handcuffed. The cops asked me where the victim had gone and I pointed--they thought he'd disappeared because of the dog, because the dog had bitten someone. The other spectators and I were discussing this--I was saying that anyone with a lick of sense doesn't just shove their head toward a strange dog. You ask the owner if you can pet the dog, you ask if it's friendly. And then you slowly extend your hand to the dog so it can smell you. Don't ever put your face near a strange dog. Dogs are not humans, they are subject to their instincts, they will react unpredictably. That's the risk you take when you put yourself into their space. I would've had no sympathy for him even before he attacked OG and was screaming at him.

The kicker was that 30 minutes later PHG is strolling around, free. The cops didn't book him. I get that the victim vanished but you had at least 30 witnesses and he ATTACKED the guy. He'll undoubtedly do it again. I guess they didn't want the administrative hassle. Only in New York!

Crossposts: http://ceebeegee.livejournal.com/729520.html

Tibbles 'n' Bits went to the new vet today for the first time. I really like this vet--although they are NOT cheap (~$15 more expensive per visit than the place in Inwood), they are very respectful of money issues and did not pressure me to vaccinate either of the babies (especially since they're both indoor kittehs). The assistant was cooing over how handsome Tibby was and he acted a little better than he did at the place in Inwood. He still seemed nervous but didn't try to hide quite so much--although at one point I was standing next to the examination table and he pushed his head into the crook of my arm to hide his face and not see the doctor. Meanwhile his enormous fuzzy body was still in view! It was pretty adorable.

The trip there was kind of stressful. Tibby HATES the carrier, no matter how luxurious it is (I have two and the bigger one is The Gold Standard, very comfortable) and started howling immediately. I made my mortified way down to the lobby and onto the sidewalk, Tibby's plaintive ululating issuing forth piteously from the carrier. The subway was stressful--I'd sat down with the carrier against the back of the seat, to protect him. I only had two stops but wouldn't you know it--at the first stop, the doors opened and at least 30 kids, plus teachers and aides, tumbled into the car and were ALLLL up in my business. As in, one of the kids (they were about 7 years old) was literally CRAWLING across my knees to sit on the seat. I was myself majorly stressing out--I do NOT like crowds, the subway is stressful enough, but I also have a terrified animal with me! I don't know why the teachers didn't correct them--they could see my reacting protectively toward the carrier and they had to have known I was nervous. It was honestly very rude. I told one of the teachers I'd be getting off at the next stop and two of the kids reacted by literally *leaning* into me, like right in my face, so they could scramble into my seat when I vacated it. It was seriously quite annoying and I felt bad for my Tibbles 'n' Bits.

Interestingly, something I've suspected for awhile has been confirmed--Tibby is "a little bit" overweight. (They also agree with me that he may be part Maine Coon cat--a notoriously large breed.) The doctor said it wasn't bad, just try to feed him separately from Tatia so he doesn't gobble her food, and feed him less.

My baby boy is healthy! Precious sweet scared lamb-kin. I always feel so responsible and adult when I take the babies to the vet.

So this weekend I watched the old '80s miniseries Masada via Netflix. I remembered hearing about it back in the day but had never watched it. Have to say, it stands up pretty damn well. It is a little dated-feeling (feels very '80s and my GOD does Peter O'Toole camp it up--that EYELINER) but the story and the performances really hold up. I especially liked Peter Strauss as the Jewish commander, Eleazar ben Yair--it's not easy bringing to life the stolid hero but I thought he did a credible job. Since it's a siege story there aren't a lot of dramatic battles to stage, so the focus goes to the psychological game and the Zealots make a point of taunting the Romans about the heat and the desert. The scenes where they just pour water down the side of the cliffs--water which the Masada fortress collects in cisterns and water which the Roman soldiers crave desperately--is pretty awesome. And there was a really cool recreation of Roman theater at the time--they showed the ending of Oedipus Rex and then a political satire. I also liked how nuanced the characters were--the grudging respect ben Yair and the O'Toole character have for each other is great. On a shallow note, ben Yair was HOTTT.

Watched the US Classic (a gymnastics meet that's a qualifier for Nationals) this weekend--I had to stream it from my phone because my fios went out on Saturday (MOST annoying, since I just had it installed a week ago). For the record, McKayla's vaults were on point and Kyla Ross won the AA. I had been thinking about attending Nationals next month--it's in Hartford CT so not too far away. But it's kind of difficult to get there--believe it or not, Metro-North doesn't have a stop in Hartford. Peter Pan has a bus there but I'd be leaving at the end of the evening and I don't really want to catch a bus in the late evening and get back into the city at what--2 am? 3? SO I don't think it'll happen. HOWEVER! Next year's Nationals are in Pittsburgh! And I know someone in Pittsburgh! *sly smile* That *would* be fun, a weekend trip to the 'Burgh. Good food, quality gymnastics, spending time with dear friends--win/win/win!

BTW this? Is beyond obnoxious. Being a good citizen dictates you should offer your seat to pregnant women, the disabled and the elderly. Children as a group do not fall into those categories. The "tipster" who sent this in is a drama-stoking a-hole. You have no idea what that woman's situation is--she may have hidden disabilities. And trying to stack the deck by trashing her appearance? All-around dick move.

Had a soccer game Sunday. My Dolphman team isn't doing too well this season, I'm sorry to say, and we're still not sure if we'll make playoffs. We've had a hard time with numbers (nearly every game has had 1-2 subs at most) and I personally have been sick for most of the season which is affecting my stamina and energy. The last two games have been frustrating, especially yesterday's. 5 minutes before game time the other team only had four players--you're supposed to have 7 on the field. Suddenly 3 new players show up, none of whom had the team tee-shirt, and they were all really good. Every team is allowed two players who are not on your team--but not 3. At half time the ref was asking the captain about it and I could hear them saying "....no, she's on our team...she just didn't have the tee-shirt" and then something about "...we didn't have enough girls" (you have to have two girls on the field). So, in other words, she's NOT a team member. And girls ARE subs--girls do count toward your 2-sub total! WTF? Clear cheating. The league is expensive and this is something we're supposed to be paying for--enforcement of the rules and fair play. We ended up tieing them and it was so frustrating--we didn't even play THEM, half their team wasn't them. I did at least score a really cool goal--Sam was coming up the left and I floated in toward the center, hoping he'd see me. He looped it over the heads of several of their players and I kneed it in. My team was talking about it for quite awhile afterward, it was quite picturesque!

I figured last night's Mad Men episode would be about the King assassination (last week's was set in March of '68). Yep. Wow. Even the background actors on this show are amazing--the cook who started sobbing when her heard the news over the radio in the diner really got to me.

Pete's showdown with Harry was awesome. The contempt on his face, in his voice when he said "we have a racist here!" Pete has many, many flaws but I love his noblesse oblige.

I like that they included the Lindsay story, although it was even more awesome than what Henry recounted. When Mayor Lindsay--a man as WASPy as I am, he went to Yale and St. Paul's, a man wrapped in privilege--heard the news about King, he said I have to go into Harlem. "Somebody has to go up there. Somebody white has to face that emotion and say we're sorry." As you can imagine his aides thought this was a Bad Idea but he insisted. He went up there with some people and walked down 125th St., walking through the crowd, telling them how much he regretted it, how important King's work was. He said this is a terrible thing. He was there. He wasn't cowering in a bunker or atop a high-rise, he was there in front of them. A real face, a real person, speaking to them as another human being, saying I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

THAT is a leader. That is some Guiliani on 9-11 stuff. Lindsay made some mistakes as mayor but that was an amazing moment.

The RFK assassination ep should be epic. My mother told me when she heard the news she started screaming, literally screaming. She said it's happening all over again, they killed him like they killed his brother. The 1-2 punch of two great men gunned down, within 2 months--just awful. Interestingly RFK had a similar reaction to the King assassination--he was giving a speech in Indianapolis when the news came in and the crowd was obviously very upset. Like Lindsay he didn't give some stiff prepared speech, he made it human, personal--he told them I too have a brother who was gunned down by a white man. I'm so sorry. Lindsay and RFK are credited with why there was no major rioting in Indianapolis and NYC in the aftermath of King's murder--unlike most other major cities, including DC. DC (aka Chocolate City--racial issues have always been a big problem in the district) was hit HARD--the P Street corridor didn't really recover for at least a generation.

Man, this shit in Boston is unreal. The entire area is on lockdown, I can't even imagine how scared kids must be right now. It feels like the DC area during the sniper shootings, and possibly a similar dynamic--two losers propping each other up. Ugh. We have enough violent losers here ALREADY--we sure don't need people from outside the country *moving* here to be violent!

In lighter news, I had a lovely night of soccer last night, played at the same field as two weeks ago, the new full-fields at Brooklyn Bridge Park. GOD, that view is EPIC. Like something out of a movie--these gorgeous new fields with all of Southern Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge just across the water. Just gorgeous, it looks like the Towering Inferno (before the building catches fire).

I was asked to sub in for a game (they have to have at least 2 women on the field for this league) so I showed up and suited up. I really am Jekyll and Hyde on the field--I'm either not so good (usually due to exhaustion) or I'm ON. And man, last night was definitely the latter--I have RARELY played that well. I have no idea why, because yesterday I was pretty tired and didn't get much sleep the night before. But whatever, it came together somehow, and every pass was perfect, literally I made only two errors the entire game. The guys on the team, once they saw I could play, were passing it to me all the time, and at halftime one of them came up to me and said "EXCELLENT." I got off a few shots on goal in the first half but it finally happened in the second--I did this weird little shot from behind (i.e., I wasn't facing the goal, just kind of twisted the ball around with my right foot). It was an odd shot, not that strong but I bent it nicely (a good shot will curve) and it just kind of...curved past the goalie's hands. Bend it like Barton! :)

The other team wasn't bad--they got off some great shots that juuuust went over, or smacked the crossbar or whatever. I was chatting with a girl on the other team, saying you guys are great you're just spectacularly unlucky tonight! She said something in response and then told me (nicely) don't score again! It was cute because tensions were a-running high--several of the guy were facing off and what not. Guys, it's just a friendly league.

After the game one of the players was really, REALLY pushing for me and the other girls sub to join the team. I mean, he actually followed the captain around to push for it. I said hey, any time you need me I am up to sub. I love the weeknight games, it's a nice thing to do after work and that PARK. That VIEW. Plus there's a Shake Shack on the way home :)

Can I just say how incredibly gratifying it is to be RECRUITED like that? These guys are all very good players--and needless to say much younger than I am. It just feels awesome, is what I'm saying.

The Groovy Murders--when Mad Men's premiere skipped over the Summer of Love but ended up in a dingy Village building, I immediately thought of the Groovy Murders (aka the hangover after the Summer of Love). Oh, such an awful story--I first heard about this during a documentary on TV (PBS?) about the Summer of Love and they talked about how very quickly the Haight turned from this idyllic hippie sanctuary into way-too-crowded, smelly and unsafe. How quickly the Summer of Love soured (in a matter of weeks, really)--and one example was the Groovy Murders. Linda especially stayed with me because she had such a WASPy privileged background--she even rode, for God's sake! Just another kid trying to figure things out and was murdered by a couple of "drifters." Awful and very sad.

This story about the couple killed on Saturday gets more depressing every day. For those who don't live in the NYC area--an Orthodox couple was killed in a car crash on their way to the hospital; the wife was 6-7 months pregnant. The paramedics managed to save the baby (he was delivered prematurely) who was listed in stable condition.

Today I find out that the driver of the other car fled the scene on foot (burn in hell, you awful, awful person)...and that the poor baby died. Oh, so, so sad. Rest in peace, little one and your parents. Réquiem ætérnam dona eis Dómine; et lux perpétua lúceat eis. Requiéscant in pace.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

McCarren Pool is now as bad as Coney Island. The only thing missing are guns.

Jesus. Only a few weeks to ruin it for everyone. The only thing good about this is they were stupid enough to film it *and* to post it online, making the job of the NYPD that much easier.

Okay, let me start off by saying I do love Griffin. He is a dear friend, a wonderful person and I love him. But he can be quite tone deaf sometimes, and right now I'm pretty annoyed with him. He came to see the show Saturday night and joined us afterward when we went to an Irish place nearby for food and drink. The subject of The Verdict came up. Griffin started off by saying "I haven't been following this case that much"--okay, right there you need to just stop talking then. You don't know much about the case, so you probably don't have that much to contribute to this extremely sensitive subject. So since he doesn't know that much about the case, he just repeated his brother's opinions. (Griffin's brother is a lawyer, and when I first posted on FB about The Verdict, initially responded with a long mansplanation about Why He Agreed. I posted back "you are seriously misjudging your audience and the timing." To give him credit, Austin immediately agreed, took it down, and apologized, both on my wall and via private email.) Griffin kept saying "it's terrible, but..." and "you need to respect the law" and "our law says..." GAHHHH!!! What does that even mean, "you need to respect the law"--how does that possibly contribute to the conversation?! I'm not standing in front of the guy's house with a pitchfork, I'm airing my opinions! Saying "you need to respect the law" is just another way of saying "you're overreacting, calm down, settle down" which is what women hear ALL THE EFFING TIME. MOST OF THE CITY, *including lawyers* think the jury got it way wrong! It's not just us emotional wimminz with our irrational, overreacting wombs who think this way--I have been monitoring every media message board I can find and nearly EVERYONE thinks this is bullshit. There have been several articles about the so-called CSI-effect, how juries seem to think you HAVE to have DNA now to convict. How do you think they got a conviction with Abner Louima?! Broomsticks don't have orgasms, you know!

One especially enraging thing about the "it's terrible but--" was that I specifically said to him "do NOT rationalize this. I don't want to hear 'but.'" Partly this is because I think the verdict is indefensible but also partly because this is not some sort of theoretical discussion in a law school classroom--this is LIFE. This verdict is real life for every woman in the city. It is personally offensive to me, here and now, to hear you or your brother trying to rationalize this. Maybe at some point in the future, but not now, when I'm still so angry about it. I said this to him several times--he wasn't even listening, he just kept giving me his opinions. Griffin, if you don't know anything about the case--maybe you should just listen. What is so hard about that? Why do you think you have something to teach me about this? I've served on a Manhattan felony-crime jury, I know what they're told, I know the parameters. Griffin has this blindness where he thinks he needs to teach people--last fall he got into some kind of FB argument after seeing The Social Network and posting "Is it so hard for people to understand that just because you show misogyny on screen, it doesn't mean you endorse it in real life?" Quite understandably, a female friend of his, who'd also seen TSN, was irritated, and responded. At the time I could only respond to Griffin's tone since I hadn't seen that movie yet, but I told him "when you start off 'Is it so hard for people to understand...' right off the bat you're dismissing everyone who doesn't agree with you about a subject [a movie's subtext] which is impossible to quantify. Don't be surprised if people take offense to that." Having since seen TSN, I want to say to him--Griffin, you are a young man in his twenties. I think I am safe in saying that there is almost nothing you have to teach me or any other female about misogyny. Stop trying to teach other people about this sort of thing and just start listening.

Cop Rapists outed on East Village fliers.

When you read about how justice was perverted in this case:

*the defense attorney's unbelievable language (comparing her vagina to a Venus Fly Trap, and suggesting she could've bruised her own cervix(internal examination proved she been forcefully penetrated) by "vigorously scrubbing" with a loofah).

*the rapist's wife numerous interviews where she calls the victim a golddigging whore. I get that she's terrified because her husband has ruined their future but Jesus, woman, STFU. You can support your husband without screeching like a fishwife and violating the victim again.

*the fact that the accomplice originally tried to cop a plea deal with the DA--he was going to testify that his partner *did* rape the woman. The DA turned him down, because they felt they had a really strong case. Well yeah, as long as you don't get a jury of CSI-addled morons who seem to think it's impossible to rape without leaving semen (psst--condoms take care of that. Also, cops know how to clean crime scenes. Also, it's possible to rape without using a penis--like, with a broom).

*the fact that they stole the woman's phone and called her family to threaten them. (from the NYPD internal investigation)

*the fact that they NYPD found *other* women's IDs in the guy's locker. (from the NYPD internal investigation)

*the fact that they stole her keys, faked a 9-1-1 call and went back THREE MORE TIMES--and these fuckers still REFUSED to convict them.

This whole case makes me sick, just sick. What's even creepier is that the rapist and his wife are moving out to California--which is where the victim now lives. It's a big state, I know, but still creepy. Why don't you move to France instead? I hear they love rapists over there.

Frankly, I have no sympathy. You're a predator? These are the consequences. It's easy enough to find out this information as it is--anyone could've looked this up online. And all they post is the street, not the house number.

I feel I'm looking at the police differently after this case. Frankly the NYPD reacted rather gratifyingly--first, by firing them IMMEDIATELY and nullifying their pensions (GOOD. That's a lot of money they lost--GOOD). And apparently they showed no support during the trial either--as I mentioned above, there was an internal report which shows how truly sketchy and criminal these two were. There was a whole stash of women's IDs in one of their lockers, as well as falsified logbooks, and heroin. I don't feel like all cops are bad.

However if I'm ever in a vulnerable situation where a cop might take advantage--I no longer feel I can call them. The cabbie who was trying to help the woman (the one who originally called the cops) thought he was doing the RIGHT thing. That's what kills me. That moronic jury has compromised the basis of trust for all the women of this city.

So the Friday morning commute from hell? Was apparently planned. Part of a planned, calculated middle finger to commuters, to punish us for what their crappy management is doing. If their aim is to underscore how worthless and without honor most TWU members are, and to get NYC commuters to side with MAT management, well then excellent job, me hearties!

Fire them all. Every last worthless one of them.

Went to the TRU auditions Saturday and saw Catherine Lamm and had a nice long chat with her about the court case and Macbeth. We enjoyed chewing over every juicy bit of the case, and of course talked about Julie quite a bit. First of all, get this--Catherine is some kind of bigwig with TRU, I believe her official title for the auditions was "Casting Coordinator" or something like that. In the past Julie has attended TRU auditions to cast for Lovestreet--in fact one year I sat in for her. This year I wanted to go but I also didn't want to run into Julie, have her come up to me and fake like we're still cool. Julie, we're not. She's trapped other Macbeth actors before--Lori was cornered in the Drama Desk Bookstore once--and I just didn't want to deal with it.

When I got to the auditions, I had to wait a bit for a break before I could go into the room, so Emileena and I chatted a bit. I asked to see the list of auditors and noticed Julie was not on it--I was all YES! Then when I finally entered and sat down, Duncan told me the dish--apparently Catherine got Julie barred from the auditions. Catherine confirmed it, she said she told TRU "I won't be here if she's here" so they asked Julie to leave. Duh-ra-ma! I love it.

Catherine was talking about what a great job we'd all done, especially the Witches--"I loved you Witches"--then she dropped a bombshell that really took me aback. In fact I'm not at all sure how to take this. She said that during the rehearsal process, Julie had been trying to get Catherine to fire ME. This--seems off. For one thing, Julie had absolutely no grounds for that--Catherine said she refused, saying "you'll have to give me a reason, she's doing great work." (When I asked Catherine what reason Julie had given, Catherine shrugged and said "Because you're good and she's not?" Well, thank you, that is a nice compliment but did Julie really say that? And God knows, Michelle and Lori were also fantastic. At any rate, Julie never came off as the jealous type to me. Insecure as hell, sure, but not jealous.) For another, I've helped Julie on many, many occasions--I convinced her not to cancel the show when PsychoSusan melted down, I've done benefits for her, as I mentioned I've sat in for her, I've even taken her out for her birthday. Julie's weird but would she really 1) dick over someone who'd helped her out that much--attack me that personally?, and 2) risk a complete mutiny in the cast, since she'd already fired the first director, Lew? Also, Julie came after me several months later, asking me to come back to Lovestreet. Of course she could've done a turnaround but still, I just don't know if I buy this. Another thing that strikes me as off is that--well, if Julie wanted to, she could fire anyone she wanted herself--she doesn't have to go through the director, she's the producer. Very odd. Part of me wonders if Catherine weren't mixing me up with someone else in the cast. She knew the Witches as a unit, she never really got to know us individually.

At any rate, I'm much less upset about it than I thought I'd be--partly because it just seems so off, and partly because it was awhile ago.

On another note, I'm really glad I went to the TRU auditions. Duncan is not so enthralled with them as I, but there's something inspirational in a grassroots organization that tries to empower each other. (And besides, they catered the auditions with Amy's Bread.) I got all excited about maybe doing something this summer--I think I'm going to talk to someone at Columbia to inquire about the possibility of doing an outdoor show there this summer, maybe a very-staged reading. Maybe even Julius Caesar or Antony and Cleopatra, since I've been studying them! Plus you get awesome fights with that. Melissa (R&J baby) wants fights.

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Weekend From Hell
An Afternoon in Washington Square Park
Tibby at the Vet
Le Weekend
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Boston and Soccer
I knew it!
Recent Story in News
It's official
Saturday Night
Payback is a Bitch, i'in't it?
The Weekend--MTA followup, TRU Auditions und More Mackers Duh-ra-ma

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Entries tagged with nyc

(no subject)

Weekend From Hell

An Afternoon in Washington Square Park

Tibby at the Vet

Le Weekend

(no subject)

Boston and Soccer

I knew it!

Recent Story in News

It's official

Saturday Night

Payback is a Bitch, i'in't it?

The Weekend--MTA followup, TRU Auditions und More Mackers Duh-ra-ma